MK12 Lecture in Kansas City, MO
Dmitri Mishkin
Kansas CityPosts: 334MI6 Agent
Image removed. Sorry--we're not allowed to use any images from the Bond films on this site. HB
As most of you know MK12 is the design and motion graphics agency that is responsible for the Quantum of Solace graphics including the Location Names, Interactive money tracing table, and the Another Way To Die title sequence. They are the focus of a lecture tonight at The Kansas City Art Institute, my Alma mater. Here is the description:
MK12 is a Kansas City-based design and filmmaking collective with acclaim in both commercial and artistic arenas. MK12’s work constantly challenges the boundaries between narrative structure and experimental storytelling via juxtapositions of live action, graphic design, nostalgic influence and new technologies. The firm was founded in 2000 by a group comprised primarily of KCAI alumni. MK12 has been sought after to direct numerous commercial and network-based projects and also has provided graphic design and animation for feature films such as “Stranger than Fiction” and “The Kite Runner.” The studio's experimental and short film catalogue has been featured in many international film festivals and has been published in design and trade journals worldwide. Most recently, their short film “Overload” — a collaboration with New York-based painter Brian Alfred — was inducted into the Guggenheim's permanent collection. MK12 continues to produce original content for television and cinema, and its most recent film, “MK12’s History of America,” proved to be its most ambitious work to date, merging experimental design and traditional storytelling to dramatic effect. More information about this and other projects can be found at mk12.com.
The lecture is 7 p.m. on Thursday April 1st in Epperson Auditorium on the Kansas City Art Institute Campus. If anyone is in town I suggest you check it out.
As most of you know MK12 is the design and motion graphics agency that is responsible for the Quantum of Solace graphics including the Location Names, Interactive money tracing table, and the Another Way To Die title sequence. They are the focus of a lecture tonight at The Kansas City Art Institute, my Alma mater. Here is the description:
MK12 is a Kansas City-based design and filmmaking collective with acclaim in both commercial and artistic arenas. MK12’s work constantly challenges the boundaries between narrative structure and experimental storytelling via juxtapositions of live action, graphic design, nostalgic influence and new technologies. The firm was founded in 2000 by a group comprised primarily of KCAI alumni. MK12 has been sought after to direct numerous commercial and network-based projects and also has provided graphic design and animation for feature films such as “Stranger than Fiction” and “The Kite Runner.” The studio's experimental and short film catalogue has been featured in many international film festivals and has been published in design and trade journals worldwide. Most recently, their short film “Overload” — a collaboration with New York-based painter Brian Alfred — was inducted into the Guggenheim's permanent collection. MK12 continues to produce original content for television and cinema, and its most recent film, “MK12’s History of America,” proved to be its most ambitious work to date, merging experimental design and traditional storytelling to dramatic effect. More information about this and other projects can be found at mk12.com.
The lecture is 7 p.m. on Thursday April 1st in Epperson Auditorium on the Kansas City Art Institute Campus. If anyone is in town I suggest you check it out.
Comments
What a great lecture last night, the guys from MK12 were really informative about their work on Marc Forster movies and all the music videos and projects they've put out. I was especially interested to see their initial pitches for the Quantum of Solace opening titles was done very differently to the finished product. Originally they had only been hired to do the screens and special effects graphics but wanted to pitch for the opening and try to influence the band the producers would pick, so the first and second pitches before the final were created using existing music from Muse, then the cover of You Only Live Twice by Bjork. They said they also had pitched one with a Radiohead song.
The first pitch utilized of blue light and it's main imagery was focused on the gun-barrel spiral which flexed in and out, it reminded me a lot of the Living Daylights titles. The second one was more focused on the sand and what elements they could use to bring in the story. According to their schedule, they only heard Jack White and Alicia keys were signed on the fourth day of shooting the video at Pinewood.
They showed some photos of the set up, where they built large sand boxes in pinewood in front of the green screen that was as tall as the studio wall. Initially they shot all their pitches in their own studio right here in Kansas City before being signed to work at Pinewood. They hired modern dancers as the models because they were the only girls who could pull off staying in one pose inside the sandbox as long as they needed for a shot. The guys said the crew was amazingly efficient, when asking the production how they could shoot a stuntman falling off one of the sand dunes, the production would sketch a rig in 5 minutes then build one in another 30 minutes. They had about three days with the models, another one with the stuntman and one with Daniel Craig.
Overall it was an amazing lecture, I had no idea they would talk so vividly and in depth about Quantum of Solace, especially since they were running late towards the end and skipped a lot of their work between 2005-2007. I even got a free DVD of their movie, MK12's History of America, which is a fictional account of the war between Cowboys and Astronauts
Sadly no pictures were taken of the screens, MK12 told the audience they weren't really supposed to show their unused material from Quantum of Solace because it's supposed to be locked down. According to one member the secret service would be dispateched to take them out if they released any of it.